Mars

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely. Thursday 2nd January 2025 was a good day & night for Astronomy.  Clear views of the Sun during the day and a fantastic clear night.  It was also an informal night too for the Society and as the sky was absolutely clear; without no hesitation members got out their telescopes and spent the evening observing the night sky.  Below are some of the superb images members took that day and night. The Sun with lots of sunspots taken by Honor Wheeler Crescent Moon in the sunset taken by Honor Wheeler Waxing Crescent Moon & Earthshine by taken Honor Wheeler.  The moon was 2.62 days old and 8.35% illuminated. Crescent Moon by taken by John Archer Crescent Moon taken by Dr Mike Rushton using a Dwarf II smart scope. 1/30 sec x 20 at gain 0 and no filter. The Moon & Venus by taken Honor Wheeler (Venus is in the top left corner) Orion, Jupiter and Mars by taken Honor Wheeler. Mars is left of Orion and Jupiter is above Orion. Members observing at the Pavilion on the 2nd Jan 2025 taken by Honor Wheeler The Horsehead Nebula taken by Jim Burchell using a Seestar S50 smartscope. 205 stacked images and processed using the Seestar S50 processing software.  The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 or B33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion and is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, the eastern most star of Orion’s Belt, The Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45 is a young open star cluster in Taurus) taken by Diane Clarke taken using a Seestar S50 smartscope. 85 x 30sec exposures, Jpeg stacked using Seestar S50 internal software.